LONDON, March 27 : England’s Ben White marked his international return in bizarre fashion when he scored and was booed by his team’s own fans as Thomas Tuchel’s side were held to a 1-1 draw by Uruguay in a scrappy friendly on Friday.
Federico Valverde’s stoppage-time penalty meant England failed to win for only the second time in Tuchel’s 11 matches in charge and conceded for the first time since losing to Senegal in a friendly last June.
A much-changed England were on course for a non-descript win when White, one of eight substitutions Tuchel made, tapped in at the back post in the 81st minute.
The Arsenal defender was making his first appearance for England since leaving the World Cup camp in 2022 and going into self-imposed international exile and the Wembley fans were not in the mood to welcome him back with open arms.
He was booed when he came on in the 69th minute and even more loudly when he was announced as the scorer of his first senior international goal.
White then turned villain as he was adjudged to have fouled Federico Vinas in the area and a penalty was awarded to Mareclo Bielsa’s side after a VAR check.
Real Madrid’s Valverde stepped up to calmly beat England debutant James Trafford from the spot in the 94th minute and the visitors almost won it with a flurry of chances in a frantic finale.
“There were some boos and a mixed reception (for White) and of course I’m disappointed about that,” Tuchel said. “He deserved his place in the squad and almost got us a winner.
“I also understand it happened to other players before here. He has to take it on the chin and put it behind him because he is ready to write new chapters.”
With Harry Kane, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham either rested or not in the squad, it was a night for some of Tuchel’s fringe players to stake their claims for a seat on the plane to the World Cup.
Harry Maguire made his first appearance for England for 18 months while fellow defender Fikayo Tomori got his first international action since 2023.
Everton midfielder James Garner made an encouraging debut while Phil Foden also got a start despite struggling for minutes for Manchester City this season.
Striker Dominic Solanke also got his first England start, eight years and 133 days after his debut as a substitute against Brazil in November 2017.
Such was the messy nature of the friendly, however, that it was hard to see what Tuchel would have learned that he did not already know about his squad, although afterwards he said it had been a useful exercise in England’s last camp before he names his squad for the World Cup.
“Everyone did good. I liked a lot of stuff today,” he said.
Marcus Rashford offered some bright moments out wide while Noni Madueke was tricky before going off injured.
Foden was quiet before hobbling off in the second half after a crunching tackle by Ronald Araujo that left Tuchel enraged while Solanke worked hard without really furthering his case to be a back-up to Kane.
Solanke was eventually replaced by Dominic Calvert-Lewin who fluffed a glorious chance, heading wide from close range.
White’s introduction and pantomime villain display at least provided some late interest for an underwhelmed crowd.
“A bit crazy, (White) scoring the first goal,” said Maguire, who has also come under fire at times from England fans. “I thought he was brilliant when he came on.”
